pearl harbor

The USS Arizona Memorial will reopen to visitors this Sunday after over a year undergoing repairs. The National Park Service, which oversees the site, announced Wednesday that contractors completed the final phase of construction this week.

With immigration and citizenship under scrutiny now in the U.S., a Japanese-American artist is drawing attention to a time when citizens were imprisoned because of their ancestry. Hawai’i’s Honouliuli internment camp was the final stop in Setsuko Winchester’s Yellow Bowl Project, an odyssey linking these sites of infamy.

More than $300 million in funding for military construction projects in Hawaii could potentially be diverted to pay for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. After declaring a national emergency, President Trump directed the Defense Department to identify projects from which funds could be repurposed.

The Interior Department is one of 9 cabinet departments affected by the partial government shutdown. As a result, national parks around the country are clsoed or operating with reduced services. But that is not the case at the Pearl Harbor memorial, where a coalition of donors are providing funds and manpower to keep the park open.

Although it has been 77 years since the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II, many American servicemen killed in the battle have yet to be identifed. But that is beginning to change. Technological advancements are allowing forensic scientists at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to determine the identities of hundreds of Americans who were buried as unknowns.

A de facto dog beach Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam is right up against a coastal marsh that is home to endangered native Hawaiian birds. But canines and fowl don’t mix. Talks between the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Navy ended the practice of allowing dogs to roam in the area and then came the work of restoring the natural habitat in this area known as ahua reef.

This day, December 7th, began with Japanese bombs and flames at Pearl Harbor in 1941, it was a pivotal event that prompted America’s entry into WWII. Today, seventy six years later, people commemorate the fateful day in various ways. As part of er series on local craft brewing, HPR’s Noe Tanigawa takes us to a small pub, the Brewseum, in Kaka‘ako where people sip home brews and marvel at unique WWII memorabilia.

Amidst the flurry of Executive Orders issued recently by President Trump, a seventy five year old Order is being re-examined. Executive Order 9066 by President Roosevelt in 1942, banned “any or all persons” from “military areas” as determined by the Secretary of War and military commanders. Though this order and the Japanese internment it caused have been discredited in the courts, political figures have used it recently to support new rules around immigration. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports on what is at stake.

“Go for Broke” was the motto of the 442 Regimental Combat Team. It was a spirit that changed the minds of Americans as they watched ethnic Japanese fight and die for the United States, even while their relatives were stripped of possessions and thrown into camps. Over forty years later, President Reagan signed legislation that admitted "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership" caused the internment. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports on the legacy we all share from this experience.

On December 8, 1941, fires still burned in the wreckage of the battleships that lay in the mud of Pearl Harbor while crews in small boats continued the gruesome work of recovering the dead. Hidden amid the smoke, many of the seeds of the eventual American victory. More from Neal Conan, in the Pacific News Minute.

The events of December 7th, 1941 were such a massive shock that some parts of the story are sometimes forgotten. It’s often described as the bombing of Pearl Harbor—and that’s where the bulk of the casualties took place.

But before the ships came the planes. The Japanese wanted to hit the capacity of US Forces to strike back by air. And so half a dozen air bases around O‘ahu were strafed and bombed.

75 years ago, Japan attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. The strike killed more than 2,300 people and propelled the United States into World War II. The anniversary brings back memories not just for those in the military but those who lived in Hawaii. Molly Solomon from Hawaii Public Radio brings us some of those voices.

Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor 75 years ago today changed life in the islands—and across the United States. When Japanese planes were sighted in the skies over Pearl Harbor 75 years ago today, many people thought at first they were simply engaged in military exercises.

United States War Department (United States National Archives) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor seventy five years ago, thirty seven percent of Hawai‘i’s population was ethnically Japanese. Honolulu hummed with Japanese run restaurants, sundry stores, hardware and grocery stores, everyone went to Japanese movies, and Japanese maids and gardeners worked in many wealthy homes. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports on how Japanese and others felt during the period.